Label for rope



. July 12, 1927.

1,635,750 v F. A. .JENKs LABEL FOR ROPE Filed n Feb 8 '1927 1477 ve 27%074 14474667 d. Jefm be mdf/4,44% W J @527 ji/keys Patented July 12, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED A. JENKS, OF PLYMOUTH', MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PLYMOUTH COBDAGE COMPANY, OF NORTH PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- GHUSETTS.

Application y led February This invention relates to improvements in labels for rope. More particularlysit has to do withthe labeling of rope by incorporation in the rope structure of identifying elements of foreign material which may bear a printed inscription.

The impracticability 'of satisfactorily marking a hemp or. wire rope, by printing or otherwisefmarking clearly or durably on its surface, and the inescapable similarity of one rope to another, when made of similar material, makes it highly desirable to be able to identify a particular rope asbeing of certain material, or' as being the product of a particular manufacturer. A label for the purpose of giving such information must not interfere with the use of the rope; and it should be so protected and preserved that it will serve its intended purpose, evenafter rope has 'seen years of service.

The invention provides such a label by the use of discontinuous flexible strips, of distinctive aspect and of inexpensive material. preferably printed, adapted to be distributed at suitable .intervals throughout the rope. An important feature resides in the means whereby these labels are secured to a yarn of the rope, at distances apart, before the yarn fis, with others, made into the rope. They may be considerably broader' than the yarn, and yet, by being wrapped helically around it, be incorporated smoothly in the rope. In a finished rope the labels are for themost part protected against the friction and wear to which the rope may be subjected; and although made of cheap materials, they will be available at all times through the life of the rope, with their print sufficiently preserved to be legible.

Theinvention proposes to use relatively short, thin, fiexible strips of paper or more durable sheetcomposition in the nature of paper, leather, etc., of a desired distinctive aspect, and to secure them in spaced relation on a ya-r'n by means of a single threador filament wound helically about the yarn from end to end. The labels may be laid lengthwise on the yarn or they may be wrapped helically around it, but in all cases they are bound thereto on the surface thereof by the convolutions of the thread. lVhen a yarn prepared with labels is made into a ro e with other yarns, which may or may not e marked in like manner, the labels LABEL FOR ROPE.

8, 1927. Serial No. 166,782.

become for the most part embedded in the rope structure; and as the yarn with which they are associated is a part of the rope, enduring in its environment` as long as the rope endures, the labels, although not a part 'of the yarn, are nevertheless equally'available at all times, being protected and preserved with their yarn, provided only that they are made of durable materials. The small filament which binds them may disappear utterly under friction of use and lapse of time, and the above mentioned materials of which the si rips are composedbeing limp are inherently incapable ofV maintaining themselves in any particular position, so that .the .label might be expected4 also to disappeari; but in thegreater number of cases, excepting only those where the label has happened to come to rest on the surface as the rope is made, the label remains bound by compression between its environing yarnsof the rope, to which'it was-introduced while bound by the filament, and can always be found by unlaying a few inches of rope. A permanent and highly satisfactory means for distinguishing rope may thus be provided with aminimum of material; and this material available in' suitable quantities at small cost.

It is intended that the patent shall cover,`

by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

y In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is an elevation of a length of rope embodying the invention, somewhat diagrammatic and ei'ilarged for clearer-,showing; and

Figures 2 and' B'show likewise a yarn of ropeillustrating how labels may be arranged and secured thereon before the, yarn, with others, is made into a rope. y

Referring to the drawings, a piece of rope, l0, has a series of distinctive strips 12, which may be of paper, composition, leather or other inexpensive, iexible, durable sheet material, en'ibedded in the rope structure atsuitable intervals alongit. The composition may' be, for example, viscose, vellumoid, a treated paper composition or other composition of cellulose or its derivatives, chosen with qualities of thinness, toughness, durability and printability, and for power to vresist thel oil, water, friction and other deteriorating influences found in rope. Each strip 12 may be a complete label in itself, with the name or trade mark of the manufacturer on it, the date of manufacture, or other printed information, or the strips may be so distinctive in design, without printed matter, that each will serve as a Vmeans of conveying the desired information about the rope. According to the inventiona multiplicity of the labels 12 are distributed periodically alongva yarn 14 before the rope is made, andpreferably they are arranged latwise against its surface, along it or Wrapped around it helically and they are temporarily secured to the yarn by a filament 1G of any suitable sort which may be wound or braided from end to end of the yarn with its convolutions passing over the strips and binding them upon the surface of the yarn. This filament may be a thread of textile material, or may be a cellulosic product or other continuous form Which is by ,machinery of suitable type Wound around the yarn while the yarn is bein drawn forward, and while the labels are eing in succession fed to its surface at theplace Where the filament is passing to position on the yarn. For this purpose either the yarn or the filament supply may be the rotating member, or both may rotate, Aturning 1n opposite directions, while the strips are fed from suitable stationary mechanism` or from a source turning with the turning of the yarn. In the latter case the strip would be laid straight along the axis of the yarn as indicated in Figure 1, as also it would be if neither yarn nor strip were turning While the filament were being Wound. In Figure 2 the label 20 is Wrapped helically about the yarn 14 in direction opposite to that of the filament 16'; and at 18 in Figure 3 the strip is wrapped about the yarn 14 in direction of the wind of the thread 16". This helical sort of wrapping makes it possible that the label be relatively broad, as compared with the size of yarn, if such be desired. In all cases, however, each label is a short strip disconnected from all like strips and securely held on the yarn, Without protruding beyond the general surface of the yarn. lVhen a yarn thus marked is embodied With others in a rope, the strips thereon become embedded in the rope structure (except as .one may occasionally appear with the yarn at the surface) and, for the most part, will be protected and concealed. Each will then be securely held in the rope by pressure 0f surrounding 'arns, and thus will not be materially -attlected by the breaking or Wearing away of the filament 16 or 16 when the rope is in service. The label is particularly useful for ivire rope, being in that case ernbodied in the vegetable bre centre rope of the Wire rope; and in that event the few labels which appear at the surface of the Lasciato.

libre rope are nevertheless entirely Within and concealed and protected by the Wires of identify rope which has been in use, perhaps for a number of years. `Bccause light and thin materials are employed any portions thereof exposed on the rope surface ordinarily may be worn away during use of the rope, and before that they will in no way hinder or interfere with the use of therope.

The invention provides simple and inexpensive means for labeling ropes. It includes labels at the surface for identification of new ropes, and labels Within the rope structure which will be preserved until such time as the identity of'a used rope is called in question. The labels themselves may show any information which it is desired to associate permanently with the rope. The helical wrapping and binding holds the labels smoothly on the 'surface of the yarn,

so that all the yarns to ethercan be laid smoothly in thin regulation formation; the thickness of a label is not so great as to disturb the strand formation; and the color of the label indicated for example as being red in Figure l, contrasting with the color of the libre from which the yarns are made, makes the labels easily discernible. In the drawing the size of yarns relative to rope is considerably exaggerated, but it will be understood that dimensions ma be selected according to desire. v The binding filament may be made mildlyvadhesive in character, just before applying it, thus tending to prevent slipping displacement of filament or label, even though both 4be applied loosely. It preferred the convolutions of filament may be closer together than illustrated; or there may be added a filament wound in the opposite direction, or two or more such may be braided over the yarn, in each ease enclosing the label on its surface.

The term liatwiseas herein used refers to an arrangement in which the label is not twisted upon its own axis before being applied to the yarn, but has one of its originally flat surfaces lying more or less smoothly against, and curved with, the curved surface of the yarn.

An adequate labelling of a rope can be aecomplished Without having the labels as close together' along a yarn, as the limitations of a drawing had made it advisable to represent them in Figure 1, and without so large a proportion of them appearing at the surface.

I claim as my invention:

i. rllie combination, with a rope, of a label lll() therefor comprising a thin, fiexible sheet on a yarn of the ro e structure; and a filament wound about sai yarn with its convolutions passing over said label and binding itto the said yarn.

2. The combination, with a rope, of a label therefor comprising a thin, flexible sheet on a yarn of the rope structure; and a filamentary enclosure about said yarn and label, binding the label to the yarn.

3. The combination, with a rope, of means associating information therewith comprising a multiplicity of discontinuous, thin, flexible strips of sheet material distributed at intervals along a yarn within a strand of the rope; and a filamentar enclosure about said yarn binding said strlps thereon.

4. The combination, with a rope, of means associating information therewith comprisyarn and strips in direction reverse of that of said strips, binding said strips thereon.

6. In the manufacture of rope, an intermediate product for associating information with a rope, comprising a yarn g a thin, flexible label on the yarn; and a iilamentary enclosure about the yarn, enclosing said label and binding it t0 said yarn.

7. A method of marking rope comprising the preliminary securing of a series of thin, flexible strips at intervals along a yarn by a filamentary enclosure of at least temporary strength; and thereafter laying said yarn `and its enclosure, with other yarns, into a rope, whereby said strips become permanent-- ly held by being embedded in the rope structure.

8. The combination, with a rope, of means associating information therewith comprising a multiplicity of discontinuous, thin, flexible strips arranged at intervals on and extending along a yarn of the rope structure, lying wholly on the surface 0f the arn,made of limp material embedded with t ie yarn in the rope and held in said position by compression between yarns of the rope.

Signed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, this first day of February 1927.

FRED A. J ENKS. 

